Even Vyāsadeva. Vyāsadeva, the wonderful literature, this reading. We are reading Bhagavad-gītā. It is Vyāsadeva's literature. He heard from Kṛṣṇa and wrote it. And not only this—the Mahābhārata, the Puranas, the Vedānta-sūtra and the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Wonderful literatures. There is no possibility of producing such literature by any scholar of these days. It is not possible. But he accepted guru, Nārada, Nārada Muni.
When, after compiling all the Vedas and Puranas, even Vedānta-sūtra, Vyāsadeva was not satisfied himself, he was seeming very morose. At that time his spiritual master, Nārada, came, and he asked that, "Why you are morose? You have done so much nice literary work. So why you are not very happy?" So Vyāsadeva replied: "Yes, my lord, I am actually not happy, but I cannot understand why I'm not happy. So you know everything. Kindly describe why I am not happy."
So at that time, Nārada replied him that, "All the literatures you have so far made, they are with reference to the body and the mind. You have nothing described very nicely about the Supreme Soul. So now you try to describe something about the Supreme Lord, about the Supreme Soul. That will make you happy."
Therefore he described the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. This is the history of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And his last contribution was, mature contribution, was Vedānta-sūtra. So from the Vedānta-sūtra, he began writing Śrīmad-Bhāgavata: janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). This is the beginning of Vedānta-sūtra. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. He said, in a different language, jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā.
So a human life should be engaged inquiring about the Absolute Truth, and he should inquire from a person who . . . who has heard about the Absolute Truth from a realized person. This is a . . . therefore it is called śruti, paramparā, disciplic succession. One . . . just like Vyāsadeva is hearing from Nārada. Nārada is authorized. He has heard from Brahmā. Brahmā has heard from Kṛṣṇa. So this is the paramparā system, disciplic succession.
So there are four paramparā systems. They are known as, at the present moment, Rāmānuja-sampradāya, Brahmā-sampra . . . Brahmā-samprada . . . yes, Madhva-sampradāya, Brahmā-sampradāya, Madhva-sampradāya, the same, and Rudra-sampradāya and Śrī-samp . . . Śrī, Rāma, Kumāra-sampradāya. There is four sampradāyas. So we should hear from the sampradāya-ācārya by disciplic succession. As Kṛṣṇa recommends in this Bhagavad-gītā: evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2).
- imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ
- proktavān aham avyayam
- vivasvān manave prāha
- manur ikṣvākave 'bravīt
- (BG 4.1)
Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ. So that is the system. We should receive knowledge by the bona fide, paramparā system. Otherwise it may be bogus. Because without paramparā system, we cannot understand actual fact. And we have to become in the disciplic succession. We must accept a guru. Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam (SB 11.3.21). If you are actually eager, anxious to understand the spiritual science, then you must approach a guru. Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam.